Wealden Times | WT175 | September 2016 | Education supplement inside

HOUSE OF THE MONTH by John Graham-Hart
1.
Horse Sense
John Graham-Hart trots around houses with stables
There are few more beautiful, more graceful creatures on this earth
than the horse. Whether moving at speed across landscape or
simply standing still, in a misty morning field, little comes close.
That said, there’s no doubt about it, the horse can be an odd cove.
The problem stems, perhaps, from the fact that, when all is said and done, a
horse is a just a very large prey animal and all prey animals spend their entire
lives in a state of subdued terror. Millions of years of evolution has taught
them that if they’re not eaten by that sabre-toothed dormouse lurking in the
myrtles, their own shadow is going to take a lump out of them. This is not
the kind of animal to which I, personally, wish to entrust life or limbs.
I have friends, however, made of sterner stuff. Not only do they trust
their horses but love them dearly – so much so that when it comes to
buying a house, all human habitations without at least stables and a
paddock are as so much chaff. The good news for them is that if they
plan to stable just a few animals, they are unlikely to pay significantly
more for their new home than they would for a stableless property.
Whereas a state-of-the-art home cinema could add as much as £50,000 to
the overall value of a home, stables tend only to add real value when there
are 15 or more of them and since the rule of thumb is an acre per animal,
this would also mean a property with at least 15 acres of paddocks.
So if you are looking for a new home for your equine friends and,
incidentally, somewhere the rest of the family might enjoy, you could find
something of a bargain on a little canter through this month’s selection…
1. Trenley Farm
Where? Trenley Farm is ideally
located in the tranquil hamlet of
Trenley just north of Hawkhurst and
offering direct access to Bedgebury
Forest (Google Maps TN18 5AH).
What? A Grade II Listed farmhouse,
it has recently been refurbished and now
offers a double-aspect drawing room with
an impressive inglenook fireplace, and a
stunning triple-aspect kitchen/breakfast/
family room with state-of-the-art Aga and
doors to a large terrace overlooking the
gardens and land. On the first floor is a
master bedroom with en suite shower, a
guest bedroom with en suite shower, two
further bedrooms and a family bathroom.
On the second floor there is another
bedroom, with permission to create a
further bedroom and a bathroom.
Outside, in seven-and-a-half acres,
there is a concreted yard with three/four
stables, a hay barn and a double garage
with log store, all built in 2015 to a high
specification. The paddocks amount to
approximately 4.7 acres with an additional
2.9 acres of bluebell woodland with a
pond. Planning permission is also in
place for the addition of a manège.
How much? Trenley Farm is on the
market at £1,495,000 with Harpers &
Hurlingham in Cranbrook. Call 01580
715400 or visit harpersandhurlingham.com.
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